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So how have the Panthers D faired?
#2 Tom NORTON (D)
Local lad Tom Norton has had a great season when you consider both his age and experience to date, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by his coach who commented “I cannot say enough great things about Tom. He has been a loyal player all year and played when we needed him”.
I have personally been impressed way beyond my expectations at Norton’s performances this year. Never afraid to mix it with the opposition regardless of the name on the back of their jersey he’s also shown himself to be an incredibly composed player on the puck with intelligent and equally calm distribution.
There’s a clear choice now for Tom and the Panthers management. Do they follow the route that has proven such a success for the likes of Rob Lachowicz and look to get Tom a good season of EPL ice time under his belt or does he continue his hockey education in Nottingham? It’s a tough call as he is, in my opinion, good enough to log enough shifts to make an EIHL season both worthwhile and, arguably, a better learning experience than an EPL campaign. One thing is for sure, whether next year or in the future we will see more of Tom Norton in the EIHL.
#17 James FERRARA (D)
2009/10 heralded the first full time contract of Ferrara’s career. Coach Neilson spoke of his desire to bring Ferrara’s defensive ability to the fore and slot him in as a defenceman reverting from his role as a defensively minded winger. Unfortunately, despite the apparent good times ahead, James only iced 16 times for the team in 2009/10 and finished the season at EPL side Peterborough where, at the time of writing, he’d registered 30 points in 37 appearances for the Phantoms. I think James is perhaps one of those players who falls bang centre of the EPL / EIHL divide. He’s got a good set of skills but is not outstanding in any particular area and for that reason (and I mean this without any disrespect to either James or the rest of the EIHL) he is probably not, at this point, good enough to command a full time spot on the Panthers’ roster but perhaps could command a spot on a side with a smaller budget who want a guy who will give them a good solid shift every time he’s on the ice.
#19 Danny MEYERS (D) (C)
It was perhaps more the games where he wasn’t leading his team on the ice that said more about Danny’s season than the games he did play. Without Meyers Panthers perennially questionable defensive stability looked practically nonexistent. I think that probably reinforces the view that Danny is a guy who has the ability to do the simple things very well and this season, considerably more so than last, he has done that. Last season I felt that he was below par too often for a player of his ability. This season, although not flawless, those ‘off periods’ were infrequent and Meyers went some way to performing to the level we all know he is capable of.
There’s the additional question of how Danny has performed in his role as captain of the hockey club. I don’t believe any fan or ‘outsider’ could ever really make a full and fair judgement on how a captain has performed his role because you see such a small proportion of that role being carried out. What I can say is that it is evident to me that Danny is as determined to succeed as anyone could be; he also comes across as having a very strong bond with the hockey club and city. He made a short speech at the end of season awards night which displayed that determination and commitment with incredible passion. You can add to that the fact that his teammates also speak very highly of his ability as a leader. His claiming of this season’s ‘team spirit award’ (which he insisted he ‘shared’ with bench Adam Goodridge) also points to his job as captain being one he fulfils well off the ice.
With all things considered I can only surmise that not retaining Danny’s services for next season, at the very least, would be a huge mistake. Additionally I think a guy with his obvious attachment to the club wearing the ‘C’ for a sustained period can only bring benefit.
#24 Nick TONEYS (D)
Strange old season for the American blueliner. His return for the 2009/10 season was welcomed by many. Personally I was one of those many and thought his 'stay at home' approach complimented our offensively loaded roster. At some point, however, it appears Nick fell out of favour with Coach Neilson and a suit became his gameday attire for a large spell of the regular season, bar the odd cameo appearance where injuries demanded it. It's a mystery as to just why Nick was cut from the line-up with such clinical regularity; and I’m not sure we've heard an explanation as to why that happened nor do I think we ever will. What I will say is that his performances when called upon were, as you would expect, consistent and assured, doing the simple things with minimal fuss. He may never be a star D-man or the ‘first name on the team sheet' but he's a damn reliable defenceman at EIHL level. Barring an injury crisis before or during the play offs we may have seen the last of Toneys in a Panthers uniform. However I would not be the least bit surprised to see him ply his trade elsewhere in the UK during the 2010/11 campaign.
#45 Stephen LEE (D)
Stevie Lee came to Panthers from the Stingrays as a young prospect that had bags of potential. Just how quickly that potential has been realised has been a genuine high point of the Panthers season. Lee looks every bit the future star his early promise suggested he might become. Where do I start in highlighting the impressive aspects of Lee’s game? He’s not afraid to drop the gloves, he’s aggressive, he makes regular, hard, clean hits, he’s solid and reliable, his ability to snuff out danger and cut out potentially dangerous offensive moves is superb, oh and he’s British. There has been a belief for some time that Panthers have a policy of not handing out multi-year contracts. If that is indeed true then they should consider waiving that policy in this instance as Lee needs to be signed to this club for the long term ASAP.
Lee’s year, which included the accolade of ‘player of the tournament’ at the GB U20 internationals in Hungary, ended on a high as he was named in Paul Thompson’s provisional senior GB squad for the upcoming World Championships in Slovenia.
As you can probably tell there is no question in my mind where next season, and indeed byond, is concerned. Stephen Lee must be re-signed.
#55 Dominic D’AMOUR (D)
Dominic D’Amour, a third round draft pick (88th overall) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, came to Nottingham with an impressive resume including notable stats from his time in the QMJHL and over 100 appearances in the ‘second tier’ of North American hockey, the AHL. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ve seen D’Amour perform anywhere near the level that his ability, seen in sporadic flashes, and pedigree suggest we should have. Too often D’Amour follows up a solid period by putting in twenty minutes littered with turnovers and poor distribution that a player of his ability should not be so susceptible to with such alarming regularity. I’m not sure we ever really saw the promised ‘tough’ side to D’Amour, nor am I convinced it exists. He had a couple of toe-to-toe battles with Jason Robinson, coming a clear second in at least one of those bouts, and nothing else throughout the season has really gone any way to suggesting this is a guy who will dive in and protect our skill players where it’s needed.
The most disappointing thing for me has been that D’Amour’s sub par performances seem to be down to attitude rather than ability. Dave Simms and Rick Strachan ripped into D’Amour on one of the sky covered games for seemingly leaning on the bench and looking wholly disinterested during the playing of the national anthem – something that had been evident for a fair few games prior to the sky team picking it up. I guess that, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a minor point, and one that might be easier to overlook if his performances were in line with what you expect from a top rated import defenceman but they weren’t and the criticism was, in my opinion, wholly justified. I don’t want to sound as if I have something against Dominic, I don’t, however if I were asked to give one reason we didn’t win the league this season it would be his name that formed the bulk of my reply. Simply not consistently good enough for an import D-man and we need to look elsewhere for next season.
#61 Mario LAROCQUE (D)
Laroque, like his fellow French Canadian D’Amour, came to Panthers with a set of career stats that suggested he would make a significant impact on the Nottingham blueline. Arriving around Christmas he was seen by Corey Neilson as a potential solution to the problem of a faltering defence that was threatening to severely damage Panthers’ title challenge. Sadly the assessment of Mario’s contribution is not hugely dissimilar to D’Amour’s. Erratic displays littered with unforced errors and ongoing questions over his ability to remain focussed in games saw him cut from the line up not much more than a month after his arrival.
There are a couple of mitigating factors that need to be taken into account, however. Firstly it was revealed after Mario left Nottingham that his father had been quite seriously ill in hospital back in Canada, which would go some way to explaining his lack of focus in games. Secondly I feel, and I think others would say the same, that Mario came in and tried to make a real physical impact, putting some fairly hefty, but legal, checks in during his first few games. Despite the majority of them appearing legal checks Larocque did seem to make all too frequent trips to the penalty box; a reflection, in my opinion, on the erratic and ever inconsistent EIHL refereeing performances rather than Mario’s playing style. Even so it was not a great return from a guy who was a first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightening in 1996 and even after taking into account the ‘mitigating factors’ I’ve outlined above I’d have expected more.
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
